People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1894 — ACROSS THE DEEP. [ARTICLE]

ACROSS THE DEEP.

Berliner Allerlel. From our Special Correspondent. Berlin, May 17, 1891. I desire this letter to assume the dignified role of ‘'scraps." I have a few observations to record. which would scarcely consent to be incorporated in one connected letter. In the first place one reads in an American paper concerning that ever fruitful subject the "Tariff question and the McKinley and Wilson Bills” and we wonder over here if the question possesses any elements of solution, and since one observes the different wordings and of • feels of tiie tariff in th? u :7.?ro::t j countries, he sou,et;:ii"s. and 1 I

1; ■ ieve. right -v. > ■ >. to the cn. ilndou i • : ! ■ - ; ‘*ct ?>. and free .r id do w w the ‘ cures” : ’ • claim, i. ” for the m < supposes • ■ i. lice, for (- ■ ■■ of lari:: and y. i .. . n v ... Lice cl .thing, we find tj.ut in Araeri- a, sail -d th? smiie doth and w‘rkmauship will cost between tvMeaud ti.ree 1: • us much as in England. ■ ' e trad, country, or in any, practically a, prole ’. -;t country. One of the i.: noticable instances is ' cigars. In A w. .. v re- .save an in «'• . : cup • ■ only, ovi : • . c f. • cents on ;. a inca c.g.'_< England a::d .Scotland one of our parly, who always kepi us informed or this subject, found th:’.! a eigai g! even poor quality cos* ii cents and higher, and in tiermany where tobaccos are taxed v ry high cigars are re.mwkab’y eiic p. Drawing on th.-K.xper-'■."’a:.’of n;v friends, I find that

vi.w would correspond to out 5 cent cigar at home, sells here for ') pfennig or one mid a nnur- <- -ins, m.d as a result of this pn'ess we find an enormous of cigar shoos through out the cities. So we Hod a vast variation of prices in tiro diiTer<.nt countries irrespective o' what we might expect from the acc tariff internal am: Take meats as an il lustration. The policy of Ger..y mis been to exclude Amer- !■ : meats from Goa man mai-

•:e by aid of tariffs, but yet, in spite of the tariff, American meats sell for less than German This is due to the prej mice against our meats, be cause of our careless inspection L.vs of the past and still to a greater extent due to the meth cds of preparing the meat foi the market. Our meats, especially swine, is much stronger in taste than the German. This is due to the fact that we feed chiefly corn which produces ver\ Strong and coarse meat in comparison to the meat found here. The German feeds more rye, and materials which produce a sweet flavor. So to judge correctly upon this great question out must be familiar with more than t ie per cent, levied upon a given

article and the prevailing price or else the results derived wik be of little value. I believe it the truth was fully tohl we would lied the condition in every country due vastly more to customs than to any existing sysiejm of legislation. Our prices adjusted by the unsettled co ditious of an ever changing economic status whi.,h has had. at least, the acquirement of rapid wealth as its goal. This fetrile lias ueen too severe and to-day we are experiencing the result and with it must come a peW economic adjustment. But as long as people are taught and aade tn believe that the economic welfare of our country de(Muds upon a set policy of free Uaae or j.roteetion then it fol--40.- that more or less injury np-wits in frequent legislation won a view to radical nhange of j o.icy. But when we say that legislation is responsible

for this and tl• economic condition, good or bad, we are likely to to lose sight of a thousand and one other causes as powerful as this and thus magnify this one ant hill out of proportion and even into a mountain. Our politics could better afford to be engaged in it own purification in our large, cities rather than in the effort to give undue importance to an economical party creed.

• One thing that impresses the stranger in his stay in Berlin is lime:..-,? with which the city i street car lines transfer her population. There are more miles of street car lines in Ber- | lin th in .in anv other city of the j world and so far as I have seen • not an electric line. All are : ■ or propelled by ' Alenin. T:-e suburban communi•arions must excellent and ws:-"-. city in the last i alien Io suburban : we find a very .: ... pulalion in all the -a i.d. The city is circled with, a line known as "Ringrailway" which comes into the city a di!f<> re n t po in t a Ifor di n g splendid opportunities to leave ihe ci;y. To.show the possioili- | ties of the city to handle passenger trsfac on May 14 and 15, two holidays. there wore about job,(J? ’ tickets sold to leave the ••ity, :.nd this does not take into •ons:. 1 . ■•ation those who came here from a distance orthose •arriwl by the lines within the city limits pr those who hold time tickets. But this enables some judgment to be formed as to the capacity of the lines to handle the population with efficiency.

To an American who has seen anything of country life in Arnerhw, or who has ever within the com;try districts to any extent is impressed with the absence of our Indian corn in Northern Germany. In South ern Germany, I am told, it is ca 11 i vat ed to consid.erable-extent. In Prussia we notice it very >ll.m as a decorative plant in yards and in botanical gardens. I noticed, last fall, a small patch now and them of very small and puny stalks which were over taken by the frost as is always ■he case in tills latitude. Spring is much earlier hero than in Indiana although as far north as Labrador, yet it does not get so warm and corn will not ripen sere. Potatoes, rye, wheat and beets are the principal staples.

One of the strongest contrasts that an American notices be • ween his country and Germany >r most any European country is with reference to mishaps of all kinds. Take the matter of lynching. It has been practiced to an alarming- extent at • mine. It is utterly impossible here in this land where a police system means something. The umber of railroad accidents in America were, of course, due >reatly to the number of per- • >ns carried by the roads last 7ear. In France, England and Germany an accident is a very rare thing and railway travel is is safe as to walk. Their trains are nor. run at such a speed and their tracks are models of strength and completeness.

The German cannot under stand the Coxey raid, or he cannot understand why it has been permitted to assume such large proportions without any apparent effort on the part of the state to break it up. He reasons from what would be the result of such a movement in Germany, The first leu men would have oeen dispersed with as much show of power as if they numbered 500. He also asks, what purpose has it? This is different to explain to him. An-’ after this is done, he asks if that is our method of legislation, ai d I tell him that it is our right to petition, He also further asks,

what kind of men compose the army, and I am compelled to answer to the best of my knowledge that they are mostly tramps and some honest workmen, meaning well but badly deluded. But, he asks, can’t these men get work in the cities, and I tell

him that the cities are now overrun with men -without work. Then scarcely undei-standing what our country life means, he questions as] to whether it is not possible for them to get work in the country, and I am compelled to answer that it is not only possible for every man to get employment in the country, but in some sections as lowa the farmers are d- anding laborers. Then wit.. s accustomed method in summing up matters he says it is probable that they do not want work, and I am compelled to reply that it is very i probable. I believe that is the, truth of the matter. No person 1 is more unwilling to condemn the; claims of labor than myself, be-1 cause I know what it means.' But when we come to reflect as j to how many men can, at present, get employment in Jasper county, not only insuring a good living, but also at fair wages, considering the price of agricultural products, we are forced to the conclusion that it is not workthat the great majority of these men want, but the excitement of moving around as most of them have been accustomed to all their lives, and Coxey has gained the principal end he was afternotoriety.

The American Consul died today and our Hag flies half mast from the consulate and quarters of our minister. Berlin is to have an exposition in 1896 designed especially for the merchants of Berlin. They are going through the long contested question as to place, etc. Lt was the intention of Germany to hold an international exhibit in 1898 in order to spite the French who have their’s planned for 1900 and have already 100 secretaries at work in its organization, but Germany is not as wealthy as France and cannot afford to risk much in such a rivalry.

In spite of all the mishaps, irregularities, strikes, lynches murders, train robberies, bar . and business failures, tires, corruption in politics. Coxey arm.-;, etc.; in spite of all these, we ,-rc the greatest nation on th- te of the earth for the possi! Acs which we possess. Europ. has a poor and weak basis upon which to draw her sup; ->r while America is voung- os’ beginning to develope the lab nt power within her grasp. her evils are not so deep st- • •!<'.- as those of this effete and in many ways rotten European society. As long as our country town and country itself ( rts its influence upon our national civilization we will expect a vigor that is not capable of being attained here. To see Europe is to make one intensely American and teaches him to love America, the more for her weaknesses, because they are temporary and when remedied the democracy of the people will be indeed grand in its triumph and splendor.